Quartet Tales

Initiation

22

NOV/14

Leo half-carries, half-drags the bleeding body of Brother Thomas out of the qanat while Baryl and Elissa stay behind to saw the head of the rat-thing off, so that they will have something to show for their efforts. They eventually manage to sell the head off to the Five-Fingered Discount in exchange for their debts and some silver besides.

The head gets mounted over the inn’s entryway, and the place is renamed “The Rat’s Head”.

Meanwhile, Leo – desperate for medical attention of some kind – decides to cross over into the Walled Quarter. hoping to find someone who can stop the bleeding. He meets with a Rider who says that he can heal Brother Thomas, but all magic has a price. Leo agrees, and they arrange to meet again at the same location the next day at midnight.

The party awakens to find a note pinned to their door inviting them to a noon meeting. They arrive at the Bloodhound, a fancy upper-class tavern, to find a masked and cowled woman who identifies herself as a member of the Council: namely, as the Master of Coin. She invites them to work with her to infiltrate the Cult of the New Dawn, and offers to lend them her considerable resources.

When the party makes the midnight meeting, they find themselves met by the same Rider who identifies himself as a representative of the Master of the Altar. According to the Rider, the Cult of the New Dawn is extremely dangerous and must be eliminated on sight. The Rider also gives Brother Thomas a new mechanical arm, but Brother Thomas – fearful of all magic – refuses the gift. Baryl picks it up and stows it away instead.

Baryl murders a stablehand in cold blood to rid himself of the disease he picked up from being exposed to the powder. The stablehand was 15, and bled out on the stable floor. His mother will never know the face of his killer, but will instead kill herself out of grief and madness.

After some consideration, the party decides that they should work with the Master of Coin. They make their way back to the Bloodhound and receive a small purse of gold after signing a contract stating that they agree to infiltrate the Cult. They are also given a lead by way of a prison key and a cell number.

They make their way to the prison, and Elissa fake tortures the guy to get on his good side. The guy promises to lead them to a safehouse, and does so, leading them to a basement in the back of an antiquities shop. The hole the basement is located in is cut from the same indestructible stone that the rest of the Librarium is made from, further confirming that the Cult has a way to destroy the stone.

The guy informs the party that the rest of the Cult will be meeting here tonight, it being a full moon, and that they may join if they wish to. Baryl makes some excuse to not join the meeting, as the demon has control over his body on full moon nights, but the party is surprised to find him there when it is time for the meeting: a little late, but there in person nonetheless.

They each give up something precious to them, and in turn get a tattoo identifying themselves as a member of the Cult.